Bard envisions the liberal arts institution as the hub of a network, rather than a single, self-contained campus. Numerous institutes for special study are available on and off campus, connecting Bard students to the greater community.

The Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College embodies the fundamental belief that education and civil society are inextricably linked. In an age of information overload, it is more important than ever that citizens be educated and trained to think critically and be actively engaged with issues affecting public life.

National Climate Seminar: Pandora's Promise

Robert Stone, Filmmaker and Director, Robert Stone Productions

Wednesday, September 4, 201312 pm

Robert Stone, filmmaker and director of the new feature-length documentary on nuclear energy, Pandora's Promise, joined the National Climate Seminar on September 4, 2013 to discuss his new film about nuclear energy and climate change. Stone's breakthrough and debut film was with the Oscar-nominated Radio Bikini in 1987. His work has been screened at Sundance and dozens other festivals and televised in many countries throughout the world.

Catholic Mass on Campus

Catholic Mass

Sunday, September 8, 201312:30–1:30 pm

Chapel of the Holy InnocentsFrom the beginning to the end of the semester we have Catholic Mass every Sunday at 12:30 pm in the Chapel of the Holy Innocents. For more information, call 845-594-6845, or e-mail jmali@bard.edu.

The Visitor Talks : Tania Bruguera

Art as a verb

Monday, September 9, 20133–5 pm

CCS Bard Seminar Room 1Bruguera’s presentation “Art as a Verb” will be centered on Arte Útil which in Spanish roughly translates as useful or benefitial art, but also suggests art as a device or tool. Arte Útil is an artistic practice that imagines, creates and implements socially beneficial outcomes. This year-long investigation initiated by the artist Tania Brugueraincludes an online archive, an association of Arte Útil practitioners, an open-call, a publication, a working laboratory at the Queens Museum, an artist residency at Immigrant Movement International and a series of public projects and debates culminating in the transformation of a building at the Van Abbemuseum in the Netherlands into the Museum of Arte Útil in the fall of 2013.

This talk is given as part of the lecture series The Visitor Talks : Pre-ambulation and Retrospection. Sponsored by: Center for Curatorial Studies.

Social Epidemiology of Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities in the United States

Presented by Enrique Rodriguez Pouget

Monday, September 16, 20135 pm

Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Since the 1980s several branches of the federal government have suggested that achieving equality in health outcomes among racial/ethnic groups is an important goal of public health. In this talk we will explore why this is important, and discuss how we can determine the extent of progress.

The objectives of this discussion will include:

1. Identifying the historical underpinnings of social epidemiology

2. Describing the distribution of health and longevity across racial/ethnic groups in the United States

Enrique Rodriguez Pouget is a public health scientist and epidemiologist who focuses on social and behavioral factors related to HIV transmission and drug use. He was awarded his Ph.D. in Public Health and Epidemiology, specializing in chronic disease epidemiology, from the Yale School of Public Health in 2009. His research areas have also included racial/ethnic health disparities and population health, infectious disease epidemiology, and psychiatric epidemiology. His focus has often been on quantitative methods and analysis, including measurement development and mixed-effects modeling. Dr. Pouget is currently Principal Investigator on "The Measures Project" (a study developing measures of the linkages between individual behaviors and social structures related to HIV risk) in the Institute for Infectious Disease Research at the National Development and Research Institutes in New York City.

National Climate Seminar: Advice for Ecological Entrepreneurs

Jon Koomey, Research Fellow, Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, Stanford University

Wednesday, September 18, 201312 pm

Jon Koomey, energy policy and finance expert, holds an M.S. and Ph.D. from the Energy and Research Group at UC Berkeley. He is coauthor of nine books and more than one hundred and fifty articles and reports on energy efficiency and supply-side power technologies, energy economics, energy policy, environmental externalities, and global climate change. Jon Koomey joined the National Climate Seminar on September 18, 2013 where he helped us understand the potential of ecological entrepreneurship to forge a more sustainable future by undermining the present economic paradigm.

The Cuban Argument with Itself

A Faculty Seminar Presented by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas

Wednesday, September 18, 20137 pm

Olin, Room 102

Reviewing the history of censorship and political intolerance in Miami and Havana suggests that these two centers of Cuban politics might be engaged in processes of polarization that often operate in concert with each other and have proved integral to the maintenance of the United States trade embargo against Cuba. As one antidote to this long standing polarization, I will review the efforts of Cuban and Cuban American theater artists who have for decades been organizing to subvert the embargo, noting the successful ways these artists have begun to normalize exchange and travel between the United States and Cuba.

Chris Kraus - Art Writing

Thursday, September 19, 20133–5 pm

Seminar Room 1Visiting the LA Art Book Fair, realize that “art” books no longer necessarily about visual art … in fact, most are not. “Art” now connotes something else, a non-commercial cultural product … Art projects like Rolling Jubilee, K Hole, Care of Editions might once have been perceived through the lens of activism … Ability of conceptual art projects to reflect and concretize the abstraction of capital’s flows … conceptual art being perhaps best medium through which to perceive something as conceptual and abstract as capital … Film, theater, literature, poetry, experimental music and dance disappear as separate disciplines with no distribution/revenue structures left to support them, and migrate into the art world … the strengths and weaknesses of this situation.

Chris Kraus is a writer and critic based in Los Angeles. Her most recent novel is Summer of Hate. In 2012, she co-curated the exhibition Radical Localism: Art, Media and Culture from Pueblo Nuevo’s Mexicali Roseat Artists Space with Richard Birkett and Marco Vera. This work has led to further writings on the expanding art world and outpost culture, including Kelly Lake Store (n+1, Summer 2013). She contributed to ICA Philadelphia Four Roads Jason Rhoades book, and writes about art and culture for various magazines.

Racist Killings, Mourning Songs, and a 13-Year Old Girl

Thursday, September 19, 20137 pm

Olin, Room 204The German Studies Program is pleased to welcome Esther Dischereit

Esther Dischereit is one of the most exciting writers and thought-provoking public intellectuals in Germany today. Her poems, novels, essays, plays, including radio plays, her opera libretti and sound installations offer unique insights into the Jewish life of contemporary Europe. She collaborates with composers and musicians and founded the avant-garde project “WordMusicSpace/Sound-Concepts.” Coming from a survivors’ family, commemoration (of the Holocaust) has been a constant reference point in her work. Dischereit’s writings also reflect on what it means to be a woman and an intellectual. The Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia on Jewish Women calls her an “outstanding writer” among Jewish artists in the twenty-first century. For more information, including bibliography, see: http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/dischereit-esther

Recently, a series of racist killings, committed by the so-called "National Socialist Underground" (NSU) organization, has shocked the German public. Dischereit can be regarded as the most important independent voice covering the legal and political investigations of this unprecedented crime in post-war Germany. While the media focused pre-dominantly on the killers, Dischereit writes on for the victims, their families and friends, and started initiatives on their behalf. She addresses society’s responsibility that is, our common task not to look away. She challenges widespread racism and xenophobia wherever it arises, including the high ranks of the police and secret service. Dischereit has commented on the topic on television, radio, and in prominent newspapers. As an artist she responded with an amazing collection of “Mourning Songs,” which eventually will evolve into an opera – songs of lament, and songs of accusation.

Visiting Artist: Malcolm Bilson, fortepiano

Friday, September 20, 20138 pm

László Z. Bitó '60 Conservatory Building

Malcolm Bilson (Bard '57) has been in the forefront of the period-instrument movement for more than thirty years. A member of the Cornell University Music Department since 1968, where he is the Frederick J. Whiton Professor of Music, he began his pioneering activity in the early 1970s as a performer of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert on late 18th- and early 19th-century pianos. Since then he has proven to be a key contributor to the restoration of the fortepiano to the concert stage and to fresh recordings of the "mainstream" repertory.

Free and open to the public.

PROGRAM

Malcolm Bilson '57, piano

Performing on a fortepiano built by Rodney Regier in 1997 and modeled after an 1824 Viennese fortepiano by Conrad Graf.

Sonata in C major, D. 279 Franz Schubert

Allegretto (completion by Malcolm Bilson) (1797–1828)

Sonata in F# minor, D. 571 Schubert

Allegro moderato (completion by Malcolm Bilson)

Sonata in Ab, Op. 26 Ludwig van Beethoven

Andante con variazioni (1770–1827)

Scherzo : Allegro molto

Marcia Funebre Sulla Morta d’un Eroe

Allegro

INTERMISSION

Novellette in F, Op. 21, #1 Robert Schumann

(1810–1856)

Kreisleriana, Op. 16 Schumann

Äusserst bewegt

Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch

Sehr aufgeregt

Sehr langsam

Sehr lebhaft

Sehr langsam

Sehr rasch

Schnell und spielend

Post-concert reception co-sponsored by the Office of Alumni/ae Affairs

Annual Volunteer Fair

and Farmer's Market

Monday, September 23, 20135–7 pm

Campus Center, Multipurpose RoomGet an up close and personal look at area non-profit organizations during the third annual Volunteer Fair from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday, September 23, at Bard College in the Multi-Purpose Room of Bertelsmann Campus Center.

“We continue to be amazed by the hundreds of people who come out to get involved,” said Erin Cannan, Associate Director for Bard Center for Civic Engagement. “What an opportunity for potential volunteers, ranging from 8th graders to Bard college students to senior citizens, seeking volunteer opportunities. The Fair offers a huge variety of local resources and reminds us of how important it is to support our local agencies.”

Enjoy the Volunteer Fair and the local farmers’ market showcasing Hudson Valley farms including Bard College’s own farm.

The Volunteer Fair is a collaborative venture of Bard College, Red Hook Chamber of Commerce, Red Hook Public Library and Red Hook Central School District.

SolarBowl Training

Wednesday, September 25, 201312 pm

Kline, President's RoomWe’re building a movement to help every homeowner adopt clean affordable solar energy, one rooftop at a time. Come to SolarBowl training to learn about engaging with the community and encouraging solar panels, all while helping Bard. Can't make it to training? Email reduce@bard.eduSponsored by: Bard Office of Sustainability.

Arguing with Peers: Lessons learned from classroom-based research on developing argumentation skills

Thursday, September 26, 20134:30 pm

Preston TheaterA lecture byDavid ShaenfieldPsychology Program

This presentation will focus on implementing quasi-experimental research in a classroom environment using a longitudinal study as an example. The study examines the extent to which meta-level regulation of argumentive discourse goals and strategies relates to improvement in argumentive discourse skill. A seven-month intervention was designed to provide dense experience in argumentive discourse and to promote meta-level regulation of discourse. Pairs of academically disadvantaged eighth graders conducted electronic dialogs with opposing pairs on a series of social topics. Analysis of intra-dyad discussion over the course of the intervention showed that participants producing a high proportion of meta-level utterances were more likely to show improvement in argumentive skill. This finding suggests that enhanced meta-level awareness of the strategies and goals of argument, along with rich engagement in argumentation, promote skill development.

Thursday, September 26, 20134:40 pm

Hegeman 204A lecture byBranden StoneMathematics Program

The Hilbert series of a module over a commutative ring is a generating function that captures many invariants of the module. In the case of zero dimensional standard graded rings, the Hilbert series is a polynomial and we call the coefﬁcients the h-vector. As it turns out, the number of such h-vectors of length n is bounded above by the nth Fibonacci number. In this talk, we will define the Hilbert series and give some basic examples. We will also discuss the sequence deﬁned by the number of h-vectors of a given length and its relation to the Fibonacci numbers and partitions. This talk will be accessible to anyone who has taken (or is currently taking) linear algebra.

How to Compare One Million Images? Visualizing Patterns in User-Generated Content, Art, Games, Comics, Cinema, Web, and Print

A Talk by Lev Manovich

Thursday, September 26, 20135 pm

Jim Ottaway Jr. Film Center

How do we navigate massive visual collections of user-generated content consisting from billions of images? What new theoretical concepts do we need to deal with the scale of born-digital culture? How do we use data mining of massive cultural data sets to question our cultural assumptions and biases?

The Software Studies Initiative (softwarestudies.com) was established at the University of California, San Diego in 2007 to begin working on these questions. Lev Manovich will briefly present the techniques they developed for exploratory analysis of massive visual collections. This presentation will be illustrated with examples of their research, including analysis of 2.3 million Instagram photos, 1 million pages from manga books, and 1 million user-created artworks (from http://www.deviantart.com/ ). Manovich will also discuss how computational analysis and visualization of big cultural data sets leads us to question traditional discrete categories used for cultural categorization such as "style" and "period."

Thinking Like a River

A Conversation between Science and Poetry

Friday, September 27, 20132–6 pm

Reem-Kayden Center Room 102Join poets and scientists as they discuss their work and the intersection of poetry and science. Speakers include poet and essayist John Lane, Director of the Glendale Shoals Environmental Center at Wofford College, John Cronin, Hudson River activist and other artists, naturalists, and river poets for an interdisciplinary conversation. See the EUS website for updates and more information: eus.bard.edu.Sponsored by: Bard Center for Environmental Policy; Environmental and Urban Studies Program; Written Arts Program.

Master Class/Seminar: Studying of Keyboard Fugues

Friday, September 27, 20134 pm

László Z. Bitó '60 Conservatory BuildingMasterclass-Seminar, pianist Matti Raekallio. Part of a new series combining elements of masterclass and seminar: Conservatory students play works related to the topic of the afternoon, with coaching and discussion by Matti Raekallio. Sponsored by: Bard College Conservatory of Music.